Australia’s Largest Ammonia Plant Set to Resume Within a Month After Outage

The nation’s largest ammonia plant which produces 850,000 tonnes a year of a key chemical used in fertiliser and explosives was shut down by a power surge.

The shutdown of the Pilbara ammonia plant could impact the supply of urea fertiliser, a critical input for Australia’s multi-billion dollar grain and agriculture sectors. rawpixel/ 123RF

Australia’s largest ammonia plant in the Pilbara, north of Western Australia, is expected to return to operation within a month, following a shutdown caused by a power surge in March.

Explosives manufacturer Orica said in a supply update on April 16 that it expects the Yara-operated facility to be back online within weeks, earlier than initial estimates of up to two months.